Fire Breaks Out at Top of Empire State Building

Fire broke out this afternoon on two high floors of the Empire State Building, forcing several hundred people to evacuate the landmark 102-story skyscraper.

Manhattan police and fire spokesmen said hundreds of people were evacuated from three floors of the building but the only reported injury was a minor cut to a firefighter’s hand.

While the two-alarm fire was fought, police closed 34th Street between Fifth Avenue and Broadway, adjacent to the northern front of the building.

Building occupants complaining of smoke were evacuated from several floors, fire department spokesman Efrain Parrilla said.

The fire started in a utility room on the 86th floor, which is the level of the building’s popular observation platform, and set off an automatic alarm at 1:02 p.m., Parrilla said.

The department at first believed the fire was extinguished when the utility room blaze was put out, but heat and smoke had spread upward through the shaft and broke out on the 102nd floor at 1:48 p.m.

Declared Under Control

About 150 firefighters and 18 trucks went to the scene and the fire was declared under control after two hours.

“We have no idea what might have caused the fire,” Parrilla said.

The Empire State Building, the landmark towering over Fifth Avenue that came to epitomize the Manhattan skyline, was completed in 1931. For many years its 102 stories made it the tallest building in the world. In 1951 a TV mast was added, bringing its height to 1,472 feet.

An office building, it accommodates about 25,000 tenants. On a clear day the view from its highest observation tower overlooks an area with a circumference of nearly 200 miles.